The present invention generally relates to a vacuum cleaner tube shaft having a first tube shaped part and a second tube shaped part and, more specifically, to such a tube shaft wherein the first tube shaped part is slidably arranged in the second tube shaped part and is releasably fixed in a desired position by a locking means.
Vacuum cleaners conventionally comprise an electrically driven suction unit having a hose connected thereto. An opposite end of the hose is connected to a vacuum cleaner tube shaft which has a removable nozzle at its outer end. The length of the vacuum cleaner tube shaft is selected to fit an operator having a normal height in order to make it possible to work in a comfortable position. The vacuum cleaner tube shaft may be manufactured as two telescopically adjustable tube parts in order to permit adjustment of the tube shaft length. Locking of the tube parts is effected, either by stepwise or continuous adjustment, by means of a locking means arranged between the tubes.
Different types of nozzles may be connected to the vacuum cleaner tube shaft, depending on the nature and the accessibility of the surface being cleaned. It is, however, often difficult to reach surfaces with the vacuum cleaner nozzle which are located beneath furniture or other structures. The operator is usually forced to work in uncomfortable, non-ergonomic and, sometimes, detrimental and bodily unsuitable working positions.
In order to avoid these problems, different types of solutions have been suggested. For instance, there are nozzles having a pivotable connection part which is coupled to the vacuum cleaner tube shaft. Such pivotable nozzle connections make it possible to use a large angle between the nozzle and the vacuum cleaner tube shaft and, hence, facilitates cleaning of hard to reach surfaces. An example of such a nozzle is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,424. However, usually only the primary cleaning nozzle is provided with such a link which means that the accessibility problem remains for other secondary nozzles commonly used with vacuum cleaners.